Exclusive: 'Dhoni should play till he's 50 and beyond that' - How Legends League Cricket aspires to extend players' careers

Exclusive: ‘Dhoni should play till he’s 50 and beyond that’ – How Legends League Cricket aspires to extend players’ careers

NEW DELHI: In the cricket-crazy India, where the sport is not just a pastime but a revered passion for millions, the rise of franchise leagues might seem almost inevitable, but the extraordinary success of Legends League Cricket (LLC) in recent years has exceeded all expectations, establishing new benchmarks in the dynamic realm of T20 cricket.

The spotlight on LLC has intensified with the dazzling performance from Irfan Pathan in the opening match of the 2023 edition. Crafting an explosive innings of 65 runs off 19 balls, adorned with nine towering sixes, Pathan etched a spectacle that has only heightened the allure of LLC. The league continues to captivate fans with thrilling matches scheduled until December 9, 2023.

Moreover, a meeting between former Indian captain MS Dhoni and the CEO of Legends League Cricket has sparked fervent speculation about Dhoni’s potential inclusion in the league’s illustrious roster. In a trajectory reminiscent of cricketing icons like Kevin Pietersen, Gautam Gambhir, and Chris Gayle, legends such as Dhoni appear poised to extend their cricketing legacy in the twilight of their illustrious careers.

In an exclusive interview with TimesofIndia.com, Raman Raheja, the co-founder and CEO of Legends League Cricket, delved into the tournament’s significance as a revered platform for cricketing legends.

What is the significance of Legends League Cricket in the cricketing world?

We have more than 100 crore cricket fans in our country and at least half of that outside of India as well. So when you have such a large population, and we grew up looking at our heroes, we never want them to retire. We say Dhoni should continue to play till he’s 50+ or maybe more than that. So it’s always hard when somebody like that retires, fans feel bad. So the idea was that they could extend their playing career and given that today’s cricket has become very competitive with youngsters and physical fitness coming up, the average age of a cricketer is actually coming down.

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We see some of the big iconic players are forced to take early retirement, with maybe five or six years of cricket left in them. We felt that if we could peck them against a similar stature of fitness, maybe we could extend their career by four or five years. So that was the one idea of this particular format, and the fan in me actually thought of this and that’s how we created this Legends League Cricket.

The idea was to bring a similar stature together and make them play competitive cricket because the fans want to see competitive cricket and that is the hook. I cannot have the big names come together and play fun cricket. Otherwise, they’ll lose interest, so it’s all about competitiveness. It’s all about fighting for the win in the field, every run is important. So that’s what we created. That has been the biggest USP (unique selling point) of ours. We’ve now come to India for the second time. We started the season, the franchise one, in 2022. In fact, Legends League Cricket started in January 2022 outside of India.

How has the league attracted legendary players?

The first year, it was a challenge. We started in January 2022. This was in the middle of two Omicron spreads, the third wave of covid. It was very wide, so we had issues. We had to push the players to come out of their homes and play a new league. So we faced a lot of resistance.

But when the players arrived in Oman, in Muscat, that’s when they saw that this was not an exhibition game, and the whole thing changed. Their mindset changed that it is not about just fun. It is about protecting their legacy. The whole format changed from their thoughts as an exhibition cricket to serious cricket, and it was a great start.

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These guys have big legacies to protect, legends, as we call them. They have a huge legacy, playing for their country or the clubs for many years. So they have a lot to protect and that is something that we felt was the trigger that nobody wanted to lose the legacy and the name that they had earned for so many years, respect that they had. So they were brought into the field and they were all there to win. So it just moved on from there.

And today, the format has become such that now cricketers are picking this as their second innings. So when they’re nearing retirement, they pick this up and start playing LLC. And we have them doing the best on the field which, we feel, has really been the biggest strength of us because nobody’s here to lose. They are all there to win and that brings competitiveness, and the competitive spirit comes in from them.

So it has been a great journey from season 1 to now, our fourth season – two LLC Masters and two franchise based LLC.

Can you share insights into the process of selecting players for the league and any criteria they need to meet?

Yeah, so one is, of course, you need to live up to the legends status. You have to be retired. You should have played a minimum of 25 domestic or 25 first-class games to be featured in the franchise model, which is the club model. But, in the Masters, you have to play at least 25 International matches. That is when the LLC Masters happen.

And what happens is in fact now instead of talent scouts, I have my players becoming my ambassadors. So they go out and talk about it to their peers and say, “Okay, this cricket is good”.

We had very tough resistance in season one. We had only 59 cricketers. Today, my pool has 250+ players and many more coming in, so the players have good word of mouth.

Chris Gayle has gone and said, “Okay, Bravo, you need to come in.” Bravo is saying, “Okay, Pollard, you have to come in.”

It’s a chain reaction that keeps going. So that is something that has worked very well for us because we kept our cricket very clean. We kept it competitive. It’s fierce and all the ingredients of international cricket are there with us, whether it is the anti-corruption unit or the match officials — everything is what they have been doing for so many years.

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